Don't Bet On It
by Ellie White
Summary: Winner of Round 1 of the LJ nbc las Challange with the prompt:  character  loses a bet  Disclaimer: Not my playground, just playing in the sandbox...


John Casey ran his tired hands down his face and poured a glass of jet-black coffee into his mug with the words "Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem" emblazed on the side. It was one of his favorite Reagan quotes and it was a Christmas gift from Walker. Chuck gave him a gift card for the Buy More, which he rolled his eyes at, but still used to buy a copy of _The Cold War Experience_.

Another morning and everything seemed to be going by routine; he woke up, drug himself out of bed, had a quick shower and a small breakfast in time for the rest of the world to start wakening. He had just picked up his mug to take the first real awakening sip when the perimeter alarm started screaming from his desktop.

Setting it back down, he sped over to his monitor and was welcomed by the motion detected window pop-up, saving him from having to flip through all of the active video feeds. A lone figure looked to be peering through Bartowski and Walker's apartment with some kind of robe-like garb on. Grabbing his SIG from its holster on the fireplace mantle, the Colonel marched down the hallway and slipped out his back bedroom window.

Quietly, he lowered the window to avoid it making a racket if it fell closed and crept stealthily around the apartment building towards the courtyard. After surveying the rest of the yard for others and finding this intruder to be going solo, he advanced on them. From yards away, the figure looked to be an elderly woman with curled grey hair, complete with a long nightgown. The closer he approached the figure; however, he noticed their extremely hairy, unfeminine legs and boyishly scrawny arms. Both signs sent up red warning flags in his mind. Taking a defensive stance, Casey raised his gun and held it an inch from the perpetrator's head and cocked it. "Don't move."

As he expected, the suspect froze and held his hands up in surrender.

"Turn around slowly, so I can get a good look at your face before I blow a bunch of holes in it."

The figure sighed in a mixture of relief and annoyance. "How can I turn around if you told me not to move? That's so hypocrit-"

Casey frowned, lowering his firearm to his side. Grabbing the perp by the shoulder, he swung him around to face him and growled, "Grimes."

Morgan let his arms fall and glanced suspiciously at him. "How did you know I was out here?"

Casey eyed him up and down before letting his lip curl in disgust. "Better question is: Why are you creeping around the neighborhood dressed like Thelma Harper?"

"Really?" Morgan's eyes lit up, "You think I look like-"

Casey growled, trying to get Morgan back on topic.

"Right, yeah. About that," he blushed like a school girl and hung his head low, "There was a bet."

"And?"

"And, they made me wear the granny costume if I lost. Which I did, but strictly on a technicality of cheating."

"Cheating?"

"Yeah. They had," he replied, glancing at Casey with a desperately serious look, "cheat codes."

Casey's left brow lifted in disbelief.

"Seriously, man," Morgan insisted, "it was an ambush! We were playing Modern Warfare 2 and I was creaming them when Lester-"

Casey held up a hand. "Don't care. Fast forward the geek talk."

"Yeah, well, anyway, armed with their ill-gotten nukes, his and Jeff took us out quicker than you can say 'Noob-tube'."

"Let's pretend for one second that I understand all the gibberish that you've just flung at me. Why are you out here?"

"Oh. Chuck and I are supposed to be having a Halo Reach Marathon, Campaign Style."

"So why aren't you?"

"Because I wasn't sure if Sarah's left yet and I didn't want to walk in on anything. Let's face it, if I lived with that hottie, gaming would be the second thing on my mind, you know?"

Casey grunted. While he didn't find Agent Walker repulsive, he worked with her and she was just another prime example of the rule: The prettier they are on the outside, the more shattered and burdened they are on the inside. "Why don't you try knocking instead of tiptoeing around the courtyard like a little fairy?"

"I did. It's locked."

"So, you're going to sit out here, dressed like that, while you wait for your boyfriend to get ready to come get you?"

"I don't really have any other choices here, Colonel."

Casey snorted in amusement. "Carry on, then."

"Unless you could provide some cover for me to-"

"Yeah," Casey laughed over his shoulder, pushing back through his front door, "Don't bet on it."


End file.
